Toy gun



April 30, 1963 E. E. FOSTER 3,087,481

TOY GUN Filed May 25, 1959 ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,087,481 TOY GUN Edwin E. Foster, Majik-Ironers,Inc., 402 Capital National Bank Bldg., Austin, Tex. Filed May 25, 1959,Ser. No. 815,342 4 Claims. (Cl. 12411) This invention relates to toyguns and more particular ly to one piece molded hand guns or pistols forfiring projectiles in the nature of hollow plastic balls.

A number of different types of toy guns have been proposed for shootinghollow plastic balls with a popping noise. One of the problems inconnection with such guns has been in constructing the same so that theycan be loaded and fired easily to adapt them for use by small children.This problem is particularly pronounced in the case of hand guns orpistols wherein firing is accomplished by compressing a hollow handleformed of resilient material.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a toy gunwhich is formed of a hollow body of resilient material, such as rubberor plastic, and which can easily be loaded and fired even by smallchildren.

According to a feature of the invention, the gun is provided with ahollow handle portion of resilient material adapted to be squeezed andcompressed for firing the gun and which is formed with a strengthenedrib extending along the forward Wall thereof to be engaged by thefingers of a hand gripping the handle portion and pressed to compressthe handle portion.

A further object is to provide a toy gun in which a ball or similarprojectile is wedgingly sealed in a conically tapered muzzle end on thehollow barrel portion.

With this construction, the ball or similar projectile can easily beloaded simply by pressing it into the muzzle end and the amount ofpressure required to discharge the ball can be varied in accordance withthe wedging pressure exerted thereon in loading so that the gun can beused even by very small children.

Still another object is to provide a toy gun which is usable either tofire projectiles, such as balls, or as a water gun to eject streams ofwater.

The above and other objects and features of the inven tion will be morereadily apparent from the following description when read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevation of a toy gun embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 and 4 are sections on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 showing thehandle portion in relaxed and compressed condition, respectively;

FIGURE 5 is an end elevation of an alternative form of gun;

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line 6--6 of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is a partial section similar to FIGURE 6 of still anotheralternative construction.

The gun, as shown in FIGURES 1 to 4, comprises a one piece molded bodyformed of resilient material, such as rubber or a relatively soft vinylplastic, or the like. The body is formed with a cylindrical barrelportion 10 of a size loosely to receive two or more balls 11 which arepreferably hollow, relatively light balls made of plastic, generallysimilar to conventional ping-pong balls. The balls 11 may be relativelysoft so that they will deform relatively easily, but are resilient sothat they will return to their spherical conditions when the pressurethereon is released. The barrel portion is of a diameter loosely toreceive the balls through the major part of its length, but is formedadjacent to its muzzle or dis- 3,087,481 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 chargeend with an annular restriction 12 slightly smaller in diameter than theballs to seal against the ball engaging it.

The barrel portion is integrally molded with a hollow handle portion 13having relatively thin walls at its sides and back and reinforced at itsforward wall by an integrally molded rib 14. The rib 14 may be serrated,as shown, to receive the fingers of a hand gripping the handle portionand preferably extends along the full length of the handle portion, asshown.

At the rear wall of the handle portion on the interior thereof a pin 15is integrally molded in the gun body and is of a size to receiverelatively closely the small diameter end of a spiral compression spring16. In its expanded condition, the spring 16 will expand approximatelyto the restriction 12 and when balls 11 are loaded into the barrelportion 10, as shown in FIGURE 2, the spring will be compressed to urgethe outermost ball with relatively light pressure into sealingengagement with the restriction 12.

To use the gun, the balls 11, in any desired number,- according to thegun design, are forced into the barrel portion against the spring 16, asshown in FIGURE 2. Due to compressibility of the balls themselves and tothe resilience of the material from which the gun is formed the ballscan be forced past the restriction 12 relatively easily. This may bedone by pressing the balls with the fingers or by pushing the muzzle ofthe gun over a ball resting on the floor, or a similar surface.

With the balls loaded, the handle portion may be gripped in the handwith the fingers of the hand overlying and engaging the rib 14. When thehand is closed, the handle portion will be compressed substantially asshown in FIGURE 4 with the rib 14 moving toward the back wall of thehandle portion to compress the air in the hollow gun body. Whensufiicient pressure is created, which is of a relatively low order, theoutermost ball 11 will be forced past the restriction 12 and will bedischarged from the gun to the accompaniment of a popping noise. Whenthe handle is released, it will return to its expanded condition, asshown in FIGURE 3, and will draw air in past the outermost ball so thatthe gun is again ready to fire. This operation may be continued untilall of the balls in the barrel portion have been discharged.

FIGURES 5 and 6 illustrate an alternative construction which is alsomolded of one piece rubber or plastic with a hollow barrel portion 17and a hollow handle portion 18 provided with a strengthened rib 19similar to the rib 14 of FIGURES l to 4. In this construction, a singleball is intended to be fired at one time and the muzzle of the barrelportion is formed with a conical inward taper 21 slightly larger at itsouter end than the diameter of a ball 22 and slightly smaller at itsinner end than the ball diameter. In using this gun, to fire balls, aball may be wedged into the conical tapered portion 21, as shown inFIGURE 6. One advantage of the construction is that the 'ball may bewedged in with different degrees of force to seal itself against theconical tapered portion so the more or less air pressure will berequired to eject the ball. By this means a relatively small child Whowould not be able to force the ball in extremely tightly will be able toexert enough pressure on the handle portion to fire the ball whilelarger, stronger children may Wedge the ball in more tightly to fire itwith greater force through a greater distance and with a greater poppingnoise.

The gun, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, may be used alternatively as aball firing gun or as a Water pistol. For this purpose, the barrelportion inward of the position of the ball is formed with an annulargroove 23 in which a disc 24 may be seated. The disc 24 is preferablymolded of rubber or plastic material and is formed near its center witha socket 25 to receive a tube 26 and with a relatively small orifice ornozzle 27 facing outwardly of the barrel portion. The tube 26 is of alength to extend into and near to the bottom of the handle portion, asshown.

The gun may be used to fire balls in the manner described above with thepartition and tube in place and in this case the partition serves tolimit the size of the firing chamber so that a sharper pop will resultwhen the ball is fired. For use as a water pistol, the handle portionmay be filled with water to any desired extent and when it is squeezed astream of water will be ejected through the tube and the nozzle 27. Uponrelease of the handle after firing one shot of water, air will be drawninto the handle portion so that subsequent shots of water can bedischarged until the water supply in the handle is exhausted. In use ofthe gun for this purpose, a large number of shots of water can be firedsuccessively.

FIGURE 7 illustrates a further alternative construc tion which isgenerally similar to FIGURES and 6 and in which corresponding parts areindicated by the same reference numerals. In this construction, anannular disc 28, which may be formed of hard rubber or plastic, isfitted into the groove 23 instead of the disc 24. The opening throughthe center of the annular disc 28 in provided with a noise maker, suchas a reed 29, which is operable when air is being drawn into the gunbody and handle portion to produce a whistling or rattling noise. Byproperly tuning the reed, it may be caused to produce a whistling orwhining noise, similar to that made by a ricocheting bullet so that thepopping noise accompanying ejection of the ball 22 will be followed by awhistle or whine suggestive of the noise produced by a ricochetingbullet.

While several embodiments of the invention have been shown and describedherein, it will be understood that they are illustrative only and not tobe taken as a definition of the scope of the invention, reference beinghad for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy gun comprising a hollow body of resilient material defining atubular barrel portion and a hollow handle portion at an angle to thebarrel portion to be gripped in the hand of a user and compressed, thebarrel portion being formed adjacent to its open end to seal against aball which will be ejected by compressed air when the handle portion iscompressed, the walls of the handle portion being relatively thin andflexible, and a relatively thick and stiff strengthening rib extendingalong and coextensive in length with the forward wall of the handleportion to be engaged by the fingers of a hand gripping the handleportion and pressed to compress the handle portion, the strengtheningrib remaining substantially straight and moving between the sides of thehandle portion when the handle portion is compressed.

2. The toy gun of claim 1 in which the rib is integrally molded with thehandle portion and projects beyond the forward wall of the handleportion to be engaged by the fingers.

3. A toy gun comprising a hollow body of resilient material defining atubular barrel portion and a hollow handle portion at an angle to thebarrel portion to be gripped in the hand of a user and compressed, thebarrel portion being formed adjacent to its discharge end to sealagainst a ball which will be ejected by compressed air when the handleportion is compressed, a transverse partition in the barrel portioninwardly of the discharge end thereof and inwardly of the positionoccupied by a ball sealed in the barrel portion and formed with anopening therethrough, and a tube communicating with the opening andextending into the handle portion, the tube terminating in a nozzle atthe opening in the partition providing for ejection of liquid from thehandle.

4. The toy gun of claim 1 in which the barrel portion i formed adjacentits open end with a smooth continuous inward taper to receive and wedgeagainst a ball so that the ball will be ejected by compressed air whenthe handle portion is compressed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS688,882 Parker Dec. 17, 1901 1,085,472 Parker Jan. 27, 1914 1,735,086Paxson Nov. 12, 1929 1,941,630 Smith Jan. 2, 1934 2,762,356 Foster Sept.11, 1956 2,853,991 McLain Sept. 30, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 529,160 BelgiumJune 15, 1954

1. A TOY GUN COMPRISING A HOLLOW BODY OF RESILIENT MATERIAL DEFINING ATUBULAR BARREL PORTION AND A HOLLOW HANDLE PORTION AT AN ANGLE TO THEBARREL PORTION TO BE GRIPPED IN THE HAND OF A USER AND COMPRESSED, THEBARREL PORTION BEING FORMED ADJACENT TO ITS OPEN END TO SEAL AGAINST ABALL WHICH WILL BE EJECTED BY COMPRESSED AIR WHEN THE HANDLE PORTION ISCOMPRESSED, THE WALLS OF THE HANDLE PORTION BEING RELATIVELY THIN ANDFLEXIBLE, AND A RELATIVELY THICK AND STIFF STRENGTHENING RIB EXTENDINGALONG AND COEXTENSIVE IN LENGTH WITH THE FORWARD WALL OF, THE HANDLEPORTION TO BE ENGAGED BY THE FINGERS OF A HAND GRIPPING THE HANDLEPORTION AND PRESSED TO COMPRESS THE HANDLE PORTION, THE STRENGTHENINGRIB REMAINING SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT AND MOVING BETWEEN THE SIDES OF THEHANDLE PORTION WHEN THE HANDLE PORTION IS COMPRESSED.